Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday, tracking sharp losses on Wall Street as uncertainty over the US election saw investors buy into the safe-haven yen. The latest polls for Tuesday's US presidential election show Democrat Hillary Clinton clinging to a narrow lead over Republican Donald Trump, who is seen by markets as an unpredictable wildcard.
"This uncertainty will keep investors from making a move as they watch and see what happens," Juichi Wako, a senior strategist at Nomura Holdings, told Bloomberg News. The dollar was trading at 103.19 yen Friday, up from 102.93 yen in New York on Thursday afternoon but still below levels of above 105 yen earlier in the week. A strong yen erodes Japanese exporters' profitability and usually triggers selling.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 1.34 percent, or 229.32 points, from Wednesday to 16,905.36. Over the week, it fell 3.1 percent. The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was down 1.56 percent, or 21.40 points, at 1,347.04. It lost 3.26 percent from a week earlier.
Market players are now waiting for key US jobs data due out later in the day. Positive figures may fuel expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate in December. In the week ahead, attention will be glued to the US poll on Tuesday. In Tokyo trade Friday, Toyota plunged 4.04 percent from the previous session to 5,698 yen, while Mazda sank 5.07 percent to 1,570 yen, with a cut in its annual profit outlook Wednesday also weighing on the share price.
Sony fell 2.75 percent to 3,175 yen and Nintendo was off 3.91 percent to 24,400 yen. Canon lost 0.90 percent to 2,970 yen. Shares in Takata were suspended in early trade after the Nikkei business daily reported that the airbag maker was preparing for a possible bankruptcy protection filing of its US unit as recall costs rise. Takata, however, said it "has not made any decision nor has facts to be disclosed" concerning the matter and added there was no new decision since a similar news report last month.
The company's shares eventually resumed trading, closing down 1.74 percent at 337 yen.